This is my first Shiden, although I have four more waiting in the stash: Hasegawa N1K1-Jb, N1K2-Ja and N1K2-Jb, as well as the Tamiya N1K1-Ja (the same variant as this kit).

As with the Shoki, I used a lot of Mr. Color paints on this. The cockpit, however, was painted Model Master Enamel Medium Field Green FS34095. This was actually too dark. The instructions called for a 50/50 mix of Nakajima and Mitsubishi cockpit colors, but a little searching on the web showed the color to be a dark green, similar to FS34092. This link was helpful. However, I intended to use FS34092 on the exterior, so I used something else in the cockpit for a bit of contrast.

For the exterior, I used the Mr. Color C-8 Silver on the bottom and Mr. Color C-302 Green FS34092 for the top. The spinner was also painted FS34092. I used Eduard's EX137 mask, which worked very well.

The instructions indicated that the drop tank should be silver, like the undersurface, but my understanding is that the tanks were made of wood, and painted either a light blue or a light green. I used Tamiya XF-76 IJN Gray Green. The propellor blades were Mr. Color C-131 Propellor Color, with Mr. Color C-58 Orange Yellow for the tips and the IFF bands on the front of the wings.

The decals are from the kit. I used Mr. Mark Setter, having had good results using it on Hasegawa decals on the Shoki It worked well here, although the decals weren't that good. It turns out a similar aircraft ("8" instead of "5") is represented on Aeromaster 48-326, of which I have not one but two copies. I intend on using those decals on the Tamiya kit.

Note for future builds: Attach the small landing gear covers - the ones that go at the top of the strut - before attaching the gun pods. I actually left them off, since I could not fit them between the gun pod and the landing gear. Also, when opening the holes for the drop tank, go straight down, rather than perpendicular to the fuselage surface. I had to spread the struts on the drop tank a bit to get them to line up with the holes.

Page last updated June 15, 2023.